Tag: Homeshake

Homeshake, we were not expecting this. I mean, brilliant mixtape last year, but this sly bit of slow funk, with a circuit-bendy outro, is a bit unexpected. So cool! Alright, so their new album In the Shower seems like it’ll be a very important release, and hopefully make this deserving bunch famous. Wonderful. It’s out September 26, watch out for it.

Montreal’s Homeshake just released their latest mixtape Dynamic Meditation, and we’re very impressed with the results. The first song/section deploys sophisticated chord changes akin to Roy Ayers or Steely Dan, albeit rendered in a more downtempo groove and hazy production style. A remarkably poignant descending melody in the refrain captures not only the harmonic and rhythmic sensibilities of vintage soul-jazz, but also its emotional resonance. The following section evokes traces of the late Don Blackman filtered through Bibio’s lo-fi approach to retro funk. The Beat Konducta-esque sequencing of tracks creates a fragmented listening experience, which only adds to the music’s beautiful delirium. Each side is just under ten minutes and, as the track titles suggest, side B is in fact side A in reverse. All in all, this mixtape slays and ought to be auditioned by all. Get it here as a PWYC download.

One of the more endearing elements of Mac DeMarco‘s often endearing rise to prominence has been the proliferation of side projects involving the members of his live band. Walter TV, the spastic psych-pop group fronted by DeMarco’s bass player Pierce McGarry, put out a couple of excellent releases last year, and guitarist Peter Sagar is following suit with his project, Homeshake.

Homeshake’s first release, The Homeshake Tape, is very clearly the work of the same group of people, and to some extent splits the difference between Mac DeMarco and Walter TV, embracing the downbeat, jangly-guitared languor of some of DeMarco’s work, while nodding to Walter TV’s more experimental flourishes. “Northern Man” is perhaps the best marrying of these two aesthetics, with Sagar’s shamblingly intricate guitar playing combining with a likeably lazy vocal into something redolent of the best Elephant 6 recordings. “Moon Woman,” by contrast, is pure DeMarco. All smooth sleaze without the rough edges sanded down, the general creep providing cover for a tightly composed, totally guileless little love song. As with seemingly everything associated with Mac DeMarco, it’s always listenable, frequently interesting, and when all else fails it gets by on charm and personality. Stream/purchase The Homeshake Tape at Bandcamp.